The Real Diaper Association

RDA Member Profile: Rachel Lawson

Rachel is one of our oldest individual members, and has been supporting the Real Diaper Association since 2006. I recently conducted the following interview to learn about what she's seen related to cloth diapers over the past 7+ years.

Q: Why did you start using cloth diapers? Where did you hear about them?A: It was my mom who first told me about cloth diapers. I was cloth diapered as baby, but back then the only diaper options were flat diapers with pins. When my mom and I talked about cloth diapers we both assumed that that was my only option, and even then I was fully on board. It wasn't until my first visit to the midwife that I discovered other cloth diaper types existed. She had a fitted diaper displayed in her waiting room (Crickett's Diapers) so I went looking online and that was the first brand of cloth diaper that I purchased.

Q: What year did you first use cloth diapers? Where did you get them?A: I started using cloth diapers in 2006 (Feb 2006), although I started purchasing them at the end of 2005. My first round of cloth diapers I purchased all online. Mostly Crickett’s diapers and some “unknown” brand off of eBay. I also bought some gently used Kissaluvs newborn size from eBay. My daughter was born in Naples, FL and I did not know of any stores in our area that carried cloth diapers. When she was 5 weeks old we moved to East Lansing, MI. I was able to find a few stores in the Lansing/Ann Arbor area that carried cloth diapers. That is where I found FuzziBunz (which is the majority of my cloth diaper supply).

Q: Have you noticed any changes in the availability of cloth diapers?A: Most definitely. We moved back to Naples, FL in 2011 and I now have two stores in my city that carry cloth diapers (there could be more but that is all I have found so far). I have also seen them at larger store like Target. There is also a larger selection of online stores that carry them now too.

Q: Did you use the same diapers on both of your children? Why or why not?A. For the most part I did use the same cloth diapers on all three of my children. The only ones I did not were the diapers that fell apart. My FuzziBunz made it through all three kids. Sadly my Crickett's diapers only made it through two kids and they were no longer usable. For my third child I had a pretty good supply from the first two and I did not purchase any additional diapers for him.

Q: Have you supported any friends or family in using cloth diapers?A: Yes, I have two friends that cloth diaper and I gave them tips about cloth diapering. In addition, I knit them some wool soakers to use over the cloth diapers. We swear by wool soakers, they really do help create and nice barrier between the diaper and the clothes. In fact, I used to teach a soaker knitting class at a yarn shop that I worked in. I was able to discuss cloth diapering quite a bit with customers and people that took my class.

Q: Why do you continue to support the Real Diaper Association?A: I continue to support the Real Diaper Association because they believe as I do that babies deserve to wear real diapers. They assist members and local circles in spreading the word about cloth diapering. In addition there are great resource materials on the website and in the newsletters.